British Medics in the Line of Fire

Posted by Christopher Eger Apr 7, 2007

According to MoD statistics currently 9.1% of the Armed forces of Great Britain are women. These include 3670 officers and 14,230 enlisted personnel. While these women cannot serve in direct combat roles such as infantry, armor and artillery, they do occupy hundreds of other military occupations. Historically these have included nurses and more recently combat medics. Two very courageous young women of the Royal Army Medical Corps recently rose above this group by selflessly risking their lives alongside their comrades.

Pte Michelle "Chuck" Norris (no relation), a medic attached to the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (PWRR) saved the life of a wounded color sergeant while under fire. She became the first woman ever to win the coveted Military Cross. She was awarded the medal personally by the Queen of England on March 22, 2007. The Military Cross is the third highest military decoration in Great Britain. It is awarded "in recognition of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land"

The second woman, Pte Eleanor Dlugosz, was providing medical support to the Kingsmen of 2 Battalion/Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment in Iraq just as Pte Norris had been. Tragically on the morning of April 5, 2007 she lost her life in an ambush along with three comrades in Basra. Incidentally the same patrol also lost a third woman, 2nd Lieutenant Joanna Yorke Dyer, of the Military Intelligence Corps.

The Florence Nightingale and the warrior goddess Diana would be proud to call these courageous young women soul mates.